This article proposes that the new shiny windparks they are starting to build in the North Sea (with all that rare earth minerals from China) may crumble and fall apart in just a few years as the steel in the foundations is going to be consumed by bacteria. Those bacteria are actually attracted by the countermeasures that usually are applied, like putting some part of the energy created in the generators into the steel. This may increase the effort of maintenance of these setups, increase the energy and resource investments needed and probably reduce EROI. Well, maybe in the end we will have to actually look at the machines that make our energy insgtead of being able to push that away where we do not need to see it.

Dienstag, 19. Juli 2011

"Last week, the USDA published its regular report "World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates," which calculates that in the current corn "marketing year" (September 2010, through the end of August 2011), 11.43 billion bushels of corn will be consumed in the United States. [...] for the first time, the largest chunk will be turned into ethanol: 5.1 billion bushels, or 44.2 percent.
[...]So if the ethanol blender subsidy doesn't increase ethanol demand, what does it do? It simply lowers the blenders' costs, resulting in a subsidy for blenders, gas stations, and even consumers. Ironically, because the subsidy lowers the price of a gallon of blended gasoline without boosting ethanol demand, it ends up spurring more driving, and thus subsidizing petroleum." (via Washington Examiner)

Its not really a surprise that Biofuel does not work as a replacement for oil, but this just shows the scale of it. Not only do they take away almost half of the corn from feeing people and into machines and cars, no it does not even amount to an adequate fraction of the oil consumption plus the efforts to push this even end up increasing the use of oil! Now if anyone still claims that "wee need GMO crops to feed the world", this alone should prove that this is completly bonkers.

Freitag, 24. Juni 2011

"The brains of people living in cities operate differently from those in rural areas, according to a brain-scanning study. Scientists found that two regions, involved in the regulation of emotion and anxiety, become overactive in city-dwellers when they are stressed and argue that the differences could account for the increased rates of mental health problems seen in urban areas.Previous research has shown that people living in cities have a 21% increased risk of anxiety disorders and a 39% increased risk of mood disorders. In addition, the incidence of schizophrenia is twice as high in those born and brought up in cities.
...
Another region called the cingulate cortex was overactive in participants who were born in cities. "We know [the cingulate cortex] is important for controlling emotion and dealing with environmental adversity."" (via Guardian)

It is not really surprising that if you put too many people in one place, they will suffer from some effects like anxiety - this now is another scientific hint towards that. Another is that cities lack green plants, vital for human health.

Mittwoch, 22. Juni 2011

"When populations around the globe started turning to agriculture around 10,000 years ago, regardless of their locations and type of crops, a similar trend occurred: The height and health of the people declined [...]
"Many people have this image of the rise of agriculture and the dawn of modern civilization, and they just assume that a more stable food source makes you healthier," Mummert says. "But early agriculturalists experienced nutritional deficiencies and had a harder time adapting to stress, probably because they became dependent on particular food crops, rather than having a more significantly diverse diet."[...]
"I think it's important to consider what exactly 'good health' means," Mummert says. "The modernization and commercialization of food may be helping us by providing more calories, but those calories may not be good for us. You need calories to grow bones long, but you need rich nutrients to grow bones strong."" (via ScienceDaily)

In this recent review of old and new data, the theory that with the "invention" of agriculture, human health declined and has not returned to its previous state until now (and even then only in parts) is backed up once again. Numerous books and articles have been written on this, one of the most famous ones is Jared Diamonds "The worst mistake in the history of the human race". These were heavily criticized, but recent studies like this one show mounding evidence of this version of the history of agriculture.

Montag, 6. Juni 2011

"Gundersen suspects an on-and-off recriticality in the Reactor 3 (or any of the Spent Fuel Pools).
[...]
Below is the chart of iodine-131 detection at the Federal Office of Radiation Protection in Germany, [...] I always thought it was rather peculiar that there seemed to be periodic spikes in the amount of iodine-131 [...]
Could these spikes indicate what Gundersen is talking about? On-and-off recriticality?" (via Ex-SFK)

"Based on this figure, the authors estimate that about 16.7 million reservoirs larger than 0.01ha may exist worldwide. The team also found that nearly 50 per cent of large rivers -- that is, those with an average flow of more than 1000m3 per second -- are affected by large dams and reservoirs worldwide" (via ScienceDaily)

Wow, 17 million dams for 7 billion people, that makes one dam for about 400 people each. That is a lot of rivers and creeks not flowing free anymore.

"The rate of release of carbon into the atmosphere today is nearly 10 times as fast as during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), 55.9 million years ago, the best analog we have for current global warming, according to an international team of geologists. Rate matters and this current rapid change may not allow sufficient time for the biological environment to adjust." (via ScienceDaily)

Quite a few times, global warming critics have downplayed the climate catastrophe as being not worse than what has happened in Earths past and life survived that, so it will not be so bad this time either. This study shows, that the speed of it is 10x that of the last big warming event, that probably turned the oceans anoxic in large parts. The ecosystems of the world can only adapt so fast - in this case, it might just be too rapid. Man made CO2 emissions are not comparable to volcanic eruptions in Earths history when it comes to the timeframe, they are more like a meteor strike causing the sixth mass extinction.

"Two days ago, the german "defense minister" proclaimed that the german military no longer has the defense of the country as the primary goal, but instead has the intention to protect access to trade and natural resources in other countries. That's what I call openness about the intentions - the imperialism is more evident then. Maybe they should also merge the defense ministry with the ministry of economics? Today, the message seems to have reached the soldiers - they already start shooting at protesting civilians.

Samstag, 14. Mai 2011

"from TEPCO's press conference on May 12...regarding the water level in the Containment Vessel of the Reactor 1:"We are assuming most of the water escaped the Containment Vessel into the surrounding reactor building. However, there is no water in the northwest corner of the basement of the reactor building, as far as we can see by the camera. We don't know where the water has gone. Possibly, it may have gone to the reactor building, the turbine building, or the waste disposal facility. ...The water may be escaping from the bottom of the Containment Vessel or the RPV, but we haven't identified the location."" (via ex-skf)
"TEPCO vermutet, dass das in den RDB eingespeiste Wasser über eine Leckage aus dem RDB fließt und dadurch der Füllstand nicht die Kernunterkante erreicht.....
Die Einspeisemenge in den RDB soll erhöht werden. Nach Presseangaben erklärte NISA, falls die gemessenen Daten richtig seien, wäre der Kernbrennstoff geschmolzen und befände sich auf dem Boden des RDB." (via grs 12.5.2011, 12:30)

"Ah - some hundred tons of radioactive water - small things like that are easily lost, right? But we will of course not say that the core has molten though the reactor vessel and containment and that all the water we pour on top of the mess is going straight through the whole thing and into the groundwater..."
(rough translation of the german part: TEPCO assumes that the water level does not reach the fuel rods. NISA concludes that the rods have molten and collected at the bottom of the vessel)

Just serves as a reminder that fracking for gas is not a good idea. Nothing new, but good that this is confirmed and peer reviewed now. Oh and its of course not just the explosion risk (or burning tap water as in the movie "Gasland") but also that methane is a much mor powerful greenhouse gas than CO2 - and certainly that methane will not stay in the groundwater or rivers for long...
But yeah - they seriously used the word "sustainable" in context with shale-gas extraction - what a misuse of that word.

Montag, 9. Mai 2011

"The neural network used by Grasemann and his adviser, Professor Risto Miikkulainen, is called DISCERN. Designed by Miikkulainen, DISCERN is able to learn natural language. In this study it was used to simulate what happens to language as the result of eight different types of neurological dysfunction." (via scienceblog)

So scientists finally manage to create artificial intelligence of some sorts, at least a neural network that can learn language - and what do they do with it? They let it go insane. I get some slight recall of "Hal 9000" and "Skynet". It seems it took only rather slight changes to create schizophrenia, a condition related to paranoia. So creating artificial intelligent neural networks to control industrial processes or military applications - probably a great idea if they can actually become paranoid schizophreniacs...

Dienstag, 3. Mai 2011

"NAOMI KLEIN: Remaking people, shocking them into obedience. This is a story about that powerful idea. In the 1950s, it caught the attention of the CIA. The agency funded a series of experiments. Out of them was produced a secret handbook on how to break down prisoners. The key was using shock to reduce adults to a childlike state."

Freitag, 15. April 2011

"The researchers found that 21 billion gallons of algal oil, equal to the 2022 advanced biofuels goal set out by the Energy Independence and Security Act, can be produced with American-grown algae. That's 17 percent of the petroleum that the U.S. imported in 2008 for transportation fuels, and it could be grown on land roughly the size of South Carolina. But the authors also found that 350 gallons of water per gallon of oil -- or a quarter of what the country currently uses for irrigated agriculture -- would be needed to produce that much algal biofuel." (via ScienceDaily)

Whew - amazing 17% of the petroleum "needed" and all it takes is an increase in water use by 125%, and covering a whole state with algal farms (there is an image of them to give an impression). Yeah, that will work out... To be fair, the also try to work with wastewater and oceanwater to lessen the impact and actually find a proper use for wastewater, but there are no numbers yet on how much that can provide. But don't forget that evaporating water is a potent greenhouse gas - no matter where the water came from. And also the "spent" water has to go somewhere - it potentially is salty due to the evaporation and may contain additives used for growing these algal monocrops. Oh and of course they will want to use GMO algae and large scale nanotechnology for that. And I could not read in the article if the energy used to keep up these farms is included in the calculations...

"The study, carried out by 200 experts from 21 countries and 89 organizations, estimates that the annual cost of damage caused by nitrogen across Europe is £60 billion to £280 billion (€70 billion to €320 billion), more than double the extra income gained from using nitrogen fertilizers in European agriculture." (via ScienceDaily)

Dienstag, 12. April 2011

" Beneath the lush, green hills of eastern Utah's Uinta Basin, where elk, bear and bison outnumber people, the soil is saturated with a sticky tar that may soon provide a new domestic source of petroleum for the United States.
...
Alberta-based Earth Energy Resources Inc. aims to start with a roughly 62-acre mine here to produce bitumen, a tar-like form of petroleum, from oil-soaked sands.
...
The company has over 7,800 acres of Utah state land under lease, with plans to acquire more, and estimates its current holdings contain more than 250 million barrels of recoverable oil. " (via Yahoo)

Not that is surprising, but seems this is going to start off now - tar sands mining in the USA. What used to be the problem of Canada, which pushes forth the "most destructive project on the planet" to gain independence from oil imports, now spreads to the USA. In that process it threatens thousands of acres of the remaining wildlife of the Rocky Mountains.This is on top of ideas of starting to mine the land there again for Uranium and rare earth elements.

Donnerstag, 7. April 2011

"Queen's researchers have discovered that nanoparticles, which are now present in everything from socks to salad dressing and suntan lotion, may have irreparably damaging effects on soil systems and the environment.
...
Millions of tonnes of nanoparticles are now manufactured every year, including silver nanoparticles which are popular as antibacterial agents...
...
We hadn't thought we would see much of an impact, but instead our results indicate that silver nanoparticles can be classified as highly toxic to microbial communities.
...
As plants are unable to fix nitrogen themselves and nitrogen fixation is essential for plant nutrition, the presence of these particular microbes in soil is vital for plant growth. The analysis of the soil sample six months after the addition of the silver nanoparticles showed negligible quantities of the important nitrogen-fixing species remaining" (via ScienceDaily)

Who could have known that? Dispersing antibiotic particles all over the world actually causes bacteria to die! So this is the story of DDT Nanoparticles. It was a wonderful chemical technology that was harmless to humans and would bring a better life to everyone by poisoning unwanted life. It was only years after the large scale introduction, that someone bothered to look at how other life was affected by it and the picture emerging then was dire.... - Oh and of course these particles destroy exactly those nice little bugs that are the source of nitrogen for plants. But chemistry to the rescure - we can just dump more nitrogen fertilizer on them, right?

Montag, 28. März 2011

Here is this Months overview of Science News, this time due to time constraints only via ScienceDaily:

Anthropology, Hunter/Gatherers:

"That human evolution follows a progressive trajectory is one of the most deeply-entrenched assumptions about our species. .... But is this assumption correct? Were the earliest humans significantly different from us? In a paper published in the latest issue of Current Anthropology, archaeologist John Shea (Stony Brook University) shows they were not. ... Shea argues that comparing the behavior of our most ancient ancestors to Upper Paleolithic Europeans holistically and ranking them in terms of their "behavioral modernity" is a waste of time. There are no such things as modern humans, Shea argues, just Homo sapiens populations with a wide range of behavioral variability." (via Science Daily)

"Research findings published in the March 11 edition of the journal Science by an international team of noted anthropologists, ... who study hunter-gatherer societies, are informing the issue by suggesting that human ancestral social structure may be the root of cumulative culture and cooperation and, ultimately, human uniqueness. Because humans lived as hunter-gatherers for 95 percent of their species' history, current foraging societies provide the best window for viewing human social evolution, according to the authors..... Their findings identify human hunter-gatherer group structure as unique among primates.....A major point in the study is that foraging bands contain several individuals completely unconnected by kinship or marriage ties, yet include males with a vested interest in the offspring of daughters, sisters and wives. This organization mitigates the group hostility frequently seen in other apes and also promotes interaction among residential groups, thereby leading to the development of a large social network....... the unique composition of human ancestral groups promotes cooperation among large groups of non-kin, something extremely rare in nature." (via Science Daily)

"Societies where material wealth is most valued are therefore the most unequal, said Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, the UC Davis anthropology professor...The researchers also showed that levels of inequality are influenced both by the types of wealth important to a society and the governing rules and regulations. Hunter-gatherers rely on their wits, social connections and strength to make a living. In these economies, wealth inheritance is modest because wits and social connections can be transferred only to a certain degree. The level of economic inequality in hunter-gatherer societies is on a par with the most egalitarian modern democratic economies...."An interesting implication of this is that the Internet Age will not necessarily assure equality, .... Whether the greater importance of networks and knowledge... will weaken the link between parental and next-generation wealth, and thus provide opportunities for a more egalitarian society, will depend on the institutions and norms prevailing in a society," she said." (via Science Daily)

"The Baylor study found that pre-European so-called "natural" floodplains [in the US] have a history of prehistoric indigenous land use, and thus colonial-era Europeans were not the first people to have an impact on the hydrologic systems of eastern North America. The study also found that prehistoric small-scale agricultural societies caused widespread ecological change and increased sedimentation ..."The findings conclusively demonstrate that Native Americans in eastern North America impacted their environment well before the arrival of Europeans. Through their agricultural practices, Native Americans increased soil erosion and sediment yields to the Delaware River basin."
The Baylor researchers found that prehistoric people decreased forest cover to reorient their settlements and intensify corn production."..."This study provides some of the most significant evidence yet that Native Americans impacted the land to a much greater degree than previously thought" " (via Science Daily)

Alternative Horticulture:

"...University of Illinois used evidence from more than 80 forest sites in six tropical countries to test how local participation affects social and ecological benefits from forests.
The social benefits include access to forest products that households rely on for their subsistence, such as firewood, fodder for livestock and timber for housing. The main ecological benefit is higher biodiversity in the tropical forests. The team's results were published on March 25 in the journal Science." (via Science Daily)

"Agricultural Research Service (ARS) hydrologist John Williams led a study that compared runoff, soil erosion and crop yields in a conventional, intensively tilled winter wheat-fallow system and a no-till 4-year cropping rotation system. ...No-till production left the soil surface intact and protected pore space beneath the soil surface, which allowed more water to infiltrate into the subsoil. In addition, there was no significant yield difference between the no-till and conventional till production, and direct seeding in no-till production saved fuel and time" (via Science Daily)

Ecosystems and Climate:

"We've identified that the boreal forest, particularly in Siberia, is converting from predominantly needle-shedding larch trees to evergreen conifers in response to warming climate," said the study's lead author, Jacquelyn Shuman, a post-doctoral research associate in environmental sciences in University of Virginia's Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. "This will promote additional warming and vegetation change, particularly in areas with low species diversity." (via Science Daily)

"Loss of Plant Diversity Threatens Earth's Life-Support Systems...."The idea that declining diversity compromises the functioning of ecosystems was controversial for many years,...[t]his paper should be the final nail in the coffin of that controversy. It's the most rigorous and comprehensive analysis yet, and it clearly shows that extinction of plant species compromises the productivity that supports Earth's ecosystems.".....The analysis also suggests, based on laboratory studies of algae, that diverse plant communities generate oxygen -- and take-up carbon dioxide -- more than twice as fast as plant monocultures....."Species extinction is happening now, and it's happening quickly. ...[w]e risk crossing a threshold that we can't come back from." " (via Science Daily)

"The 2011 Arctic sea ice extent maximum that marks the beginning of the melt season appears to be tied for the lowest ever measured by satellites, say scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center." (via Science Daily)

""[T]he sixth mass extinction could arrive within as little as 3 to 22 centuries,"..."So far, only 1 to 2 percent of all species have gone extinct in the groups we can look at clearly,...."Even though the magnitude is fairly low, present rates [of extinction] are higher than during most past mass extinctions."...."It looks like modern extinction rates resemble mass extinction rates, even after setting a high bar for defining 'mass extinction,'" Barnosky said." (via Science Daily)

"Green" Technologies, Lifestyle:

""There is enormous interest in using carbon dioxide to make hydrocarbon fuels,...we can use the same infrastructure to process and transport this new hydrocarbon fuel that we use for fossil fuels."...using a photosynthetic bacterium and a hydrocarbon-producing bacterium together to make hydrocarbons from carbon dioxide." (via Science Daily)

"Overall the survey, which will follow 40,000 UK households over many years, found that 60% of people believed that a major environmental disaster is pending if things continue on their current course....
Nonetheless, people's willingness to behave in an environmentally-friendly way comes with conditions as 59% of those surveyed agreed that 'any changes I make to help the environment need to fit in with my lifestyle' .... employed people seem less likely to adopt pro-environmental behaviours...." (via Science Daily)

"TU Delft has demonstrated that the speed at which inexpensive solar cells are produced can be increased by a factor of ten -- and that this can be achieved without any detriment to the energy yield of the cells. This will almost certainly result in a further reduction in the price of the cells, which are made of amorphous silicon." (via Science Daily)

"...The high-tech and environmentally friendly model fish farms ... are based on water recirculation technology. This means that the fish farm recycles as much as 95 percent of the water instead of merely letting it drain away into the countryside.
Now DTU Aqua and several of the key players in the industry are joining forces to take Danish fish farming a stage further. In order to put large rainbow trout and salmon on the menu as well, the so-called model fish farms are to be expanded to include the breeding of saltwater fish as well as freshwater fish -- and it is to take place inland. " (via Science Daily)

Mittwoch, 23. März 2011

"The newspaper earlier reportedthat state officials had fingered work being done to the Anglo-Suisse's non-producing oil well near Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River as the likely source, calling it a "well capping out of control." Anglo Suisse Offshore Partners released a statement last night confirming it was the source of the spill, but that it was "surprised" that its dormant well could have released that much oil, according to the paper. The Times Picayune reported the well was being capped for permanent abandonment" (via Huffington Post)

Donnerstag, 3. März 2011

"While the existence of the toxic wastes has been reported, thousands of internal documents obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood. ,,,The Times also found never-reported studies by the E.P.A. and a confidential study by the drilling industry that all concluded that radioactivity in drilling waste cannot be fully diluted in rivers and other waterways. ...The risks are particularly severe in Pennsylvania, which has seen a sharp increase in drilling, with roughly 71,000 active gas wells, up from about 36,000 in 2000...." (via NY Times)

So not that it was not obvious that hydrofracking is utterly insane, it seems the EPA got itself into a bit of a mess there, not really acting on the information they had. And in the light that now soo hydrofracking will also be used for oil... what a mess!

Montag, 14. Februar 2011

"Oil engineers are applying what critics say is an environmentally questionable method developed in recent years to tap natural gas trapped in underground shale. They drill down and horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale and allow gas to flow up.
Because oil molecules are sticky and larger than gas molecules, engineers thought the process wouldn't work to squeeze oil out fast enough to make it economical. But drillers learned how to increase the number of cracks in the rock and use different chemicals to free up oil at low cost." (via yahoo news)

Not long ago the broad public learnt about hydrofracking for the first time when the movie "Gasland" showed how this already widespread prectice can lead to burning tap water, gas-bubbling streams and poisenous chemicals in the groudwater. Now it seems not even the oil bearing rocks are safe from this extraction method, potentially covering even more ground with boreholes and fractured rock beneath, addind additional chemicals. But "we" need more and more oil, right? Especially now that Saudia Arabia seems to run out of oil earlier than thought and peak oil is here...

Samstag, 12. Februar 2011

"Singapore media claim that fake rice is being distributed in the Chinese town of Taiyuan, in Shaanxi province. This “rice” is a mix of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and plastic. It is formed by mixing the potatoes and sweet potatoes into the shape of rice grains, then adding industrial synthetic resins. Since the rice does not behave like normal rice, it stays hard even after it has been cooked. Such synthetic resins can also be very harmful if consumed.
A Chinese Restaurant Association official said that eating three bowls of this fake rice would be like eating one plastic bag. Due to the seriousness of the matter, he added that there would be an investigation of factories alleged to be producing the rice. Meanwhile, the low cost of the fake rice is allowing wholesalers to make large profits." (via very Vietnam)

This sounds too odd to be true, but if it is then it is seriously insane. Selling potatoes pressed in the shape of rice grains and covered with plastics - to do what - get the Chinese to eat more potatoes??

Mittwoch, 2. Februar 2011

""In an action unprecedented in internet history, the Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the internet," James Cowie of Renesys said in a blog post.[...]
The legislation, which would grant US President Barack Obama powers to seize control of and even shut down the internet, would soon be reintroduced to a senate committee, Wired.com reported.[...]
“My legislation would provide a mechanism for the government to work with the private sector in the event of a true cyber emergency,” [Senator] Collins said" (via the age)

The US is getting all excited about Egypts possibilities to have an OFF-switch for the internet and warm up their own plans to do that once more. One has to wonder what they are afraid of. And this also shows how weak the idea is, that future mass movements, political resistance or revolts against a potential corrupted government can be organized in facebook and twitter. Oh and of course using "private contractors" to do the job makes it all much more trustworthy! There is a nice tip in the article though: It seems you can still use a classical modem and international dialup providers to get into the net in such a case. So maybe it's worth keeping that old hardware and emergency phone numbers...

Dienstag, 1. Februar 2011

"In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack." (via organic consumers)

Looks like Monsanto and a couple of other corporations in the business of creating GE plants managed to get a hold of the people in charge of the major organic market chains in the USA. Not that buying organic in the USA gave you GMO free food anyways, but at least up to now they tried to oppose the total invasion of GE crops. Now they just gave up. Happy engineering, Monsanto...

Mittwoch, 26. Januar 2011

"Jed Kaplan is putting forward a new interpretation of the history of humans and their environment. This professor at EPFL and his colleague Kristen Krumhardt have developed a model that demonstrates the link between population increase and deforestation. The method enables a fairly precise estimate of human-origin carbon emissions before the advent of industrialization. The story of our influence on the climate began with the first farmers. [...] 'They have been having an influence [on the climate] for at least 8000 years.'
[...]
They show, for example, a first major boom in carbon emissions already 2000 years before our era, corresponding to the expansion of civilizations in China and around the mediterranean." (via Science Daily)

Looks like human civilization is linked to carbon emissions right from the beginning of agriculture. Deforestation was the first major impact before things really picked up with the discovery of fossil fuels. This was suspected for a while now, this recent study shows that the influence of traditional (eurasian) agriculture was anything but marginal though, despite the low populations at that time.